Wolf & Lamb
by WoShiYingtao
Summary: A tyrannical Levi bullying an effeminate Armin, in a science high school somewhere in Osaka. Then ending up falling in love with him.
1. Chapter 1

Characters' thoughts are in italic. :)

* * *

"Oh... come on!"

May 26, Wednesday, 11:20 in the morning.

"Couldn't you treat him a little better? After all-..."

An unusual expression, a trembling voice.

"He's your roommate!"

Anyone would be intrigued and worried about Oruo, the third class' student of a Science high school somewhere in Osaka, especially noting how he was ranging to the right and to the left with his whole body.

"Stop with these bullshits, Oruo."

Without never taking his eyes off his interlocutor.

"He's just a stupid fagot, I don't care a damn about him."

Who was Levi, _Levi the tyrant._  
The black-haired and with brown eyes boy, with little body and extremely abrupt gestures.

"No bullshits, Levi..."

He was feared and respected by all the students in the high school, boys and girls scrupulously avoided him.

"That boy-... Well..."

No one had ever dared to contradict, nor had anyone ever tried to reason with him.

"Well, he-"  
"Go away, you have wearied me."

Levi was a tyrant, after all.

"Ah... as you wish."

And Oruo, as his childhood friend and his only company, almost always surrendered this stubbornness and coldness of soul, although he did feel mortified.

"But think about what I told you, at least!"

So, as often happened, he went down from the bench and shoved his hands in his pockets, shrugging.

"Arlert is a good guy, he really admires you!"

Nodding toward the classroom door and opening it, sighing.

"Think about it, okay?"  
"Yes, of course."

_So it's useless to keep talking to you_, he said himself lifting his head toward the ceiling and raising the tone of the voice.

"See ya, Levi!"

Not at all surprised to receive no response.  
They knew each other since childhood, but Oruo just wasn't able to recognize him and the cold and arrogant person he had become. Since he was in the third year and Levi was still in the second, he was starting to worry that the next year he could no longer accompany him or keep an eye on him, and wondered how the hell that unfortunate roommate would survive all alone with him.

"Arlert, huh?"

Enduring his whims, with his absurd demands...

"Oh-"

**Armin Arlert**, who had just moved into the school after the death of his parents, should have just receive a Nobel Prize for his patience.

"Oruo-senpai!"

Surprised, Oruo recognized the voice of the boy and raised his head, saw him running right towards him.

"Arlert?"

Panting, perspiring slightly.

"L-... Levi-..."

He was a good and mild-mannered and delicate boy, his features vaguely feminine attracted no small attention of all the guys around the school, and Oruo was lost in the blue of his big eyes whenever they found themselves face-to-face.

"Levi what?"

What a paradox, to be right in the same room with the tyrant.

"He's still mad at me, right?"

_A little as the beauty and the beast_, he thought.

"Well..."

How could he say "yes, he's mad at you" if he continued to stare at him in that way? His gaze was similar to that of a frightened and helpless puppy, and the tuft of blond hair messed up was making me want to grab his hair and mussing them even more, just as you would with a dog.

"Don't mind him, he's always in a bad mood!"

He gasped, squinting and lifting the shoulders. Armin smiled.

"Thank you, senpai. But I know it was me to interrupt him while he was with his girlfriend, it's okay to be mad at me."

Oruo's eyes widened. _How the hell you can think that it may be your fault?!,_ he told himself beginning to scratch his head nervously.

"Anyway-... He doesn't seem so angry right now."

A short stop.

"Maybe, if you go-..."

And Armin smiled again, bowing slightly.

"Thank you, senpai!"

Escaping into the class and then disappearing into the crowd of guys in black uniforms.  
Oruo sighed, shrugged.

"Levi... How can you treat him so damn bad?!"

_Anyone would melt seeing that smile!,_ he whispered, grinning. Then jamming on the spot, feeling really like an idiot.

* * *

"I-... I'm coming..."

With head low and slow pace, Armin Arlert crawled like a worm to his bed (on the left) shaking strong his math book in his hands.

"I-I don't want to disturb you but-" "You again?"

Levi hadn't even turned around to look at him.

"I told you not to come before eleven o'clock, are you stupid or what?"

He didn't even raise his eyes, he just continued to read the magazine in blacks boxer and white t-shirt, legs crossed and all his clothes sprawled on the floor.

"Y-you're right, but-..."  
"Go away, I'm going to get some girls and I don't have time to waste on you."

Armin stopped abruptly.

"Y-yes..."

Not that it really mattered, but knowing that his roommate was seeing at least three or four girls every night...

"I-I just came to take a couple of things..."

For having fun right on that bed... In some ways, it bothered him. With his thin cream-colored sweater, dark jeans and brownish slippers, Armin began to crawl on the floor and crawled under the bed.  
At that moment (finally) Levi turned to him and snapped.

"Unless you want to keep me company instead of those girls, Arlert."

He gasped and slammed his head against the bed frame, he complained.

"W-what?!"

His blonde hair entangled in the net and nearly tore, but between a stutter and the other he was able to escape and collect his books.

"I-I'm not a girl!"

Carefully, he stood up and straightened his hair, grabbed his purse and slid towards the door, opening it.

"Ohi!"

Levi interrupted him again.

"Not before eleven o'clock, okay?"

He hesitated.  
Not because he was angry, not because he was embarrassed.

"Yup."

But because he felt ridiculous, shamefully ridiculous.

"I'm going."

In the hope that, at least for one day, that tyrant could finally treat him kindly, just as he would have done with him.

* * *

"So guys, today's lesson will be held in the school yard!"

A (predictable) roar went up from the entire class 2-A, and all those present rose from their chairs simultaneously.

"Ohi!"

Agile as a gazelle,** Jean Kirchstein** reached Armin's table (who was now busy to put his stuff in the folder).

"You sit down next to me, right?! Places are free choice, so..."

Messed up hair, slender figure and sturdy physique.  
He slammed his shoulder and yanked him.

"A-ah-..."

In extreme embarrassment, the blue-eyed smiled and scratched his head.

"Why not?!"

Syddenly a third person joined them.

"Guys?"

He was **Eren Jeager**, Jean's roommate and (more recently) one of the few nice people that Armin had met in the high school.

"Can I join you?"

A little boy with olive skin and two huge green eyes, and the one who had offered to host him every time Levi had kicked him out of his room, in the evening.

"Sure!"  
"Yup!"

It wasn't unusual, in fact, that Armin was asleep in their room and woke the next morning to sneak in his own room, while Levi was still snoring (half naked in his bed).

"All right, let's go!"

Eren was sorry (terribly) for the condition where the blonde was forced to "survive" in the dorm, and he thought that host him (and cover him in the event he was discovered wandering around the hallway at night) was the least he could do.

"Yo."

Suddenly, all three were shaken by a heavy presence behind them, which made them turn around immediately.

"What are you idiots talking about?"

Levi.

"What?"

Inexplicably, the tyrant Levi had approached them and was interested in their conversation, and Jean and Eren looked amazed.

"We-... were simply choosing the places to sit down once in the courtyard."  
"I'll join you, then."

Armin had remained silent, probably too terrified in his presence, yet Levi continued to stare at him and only him.

"What, can't I do it? Do I perhaps have some contagious disease? Am I an animal?"  
"W-well no, of course no-..."

Eren was beginning to feel nervous. Sure, he was a rather emotional person and easily lost patience, but _that_ Levi...

"But Armin, maybe could-"  
"Armin will be happy if I join you, I have no doubt."

Armin started.  
A few seconds of silence, then Jean decided to intervene and break the tension.

"Now-now, let's go before the other steal the places most good!"

Tugged and pulled the blond by the arm, while continuing to giggle hysterically.

* * *

_Why does he hate me so much?,_ thought Armin resting his head on the wrist and sighing, while everyone was focused on the lesson. _What did I do to deserve all this?_, thought again still frowning and starting to write. The uniform of the high school was completely black, and black was a color that was particularly good on him.

"Armin Arlert!"

Suddenly, the teacher called him and he stood up like a soldier.

"Yup!"

He replied quickly, then beginning to read from where the professor had said, while continuing to think about anything and swallowing over and over again to the tension.

_The other day, then... _  
_He even wanted to sit with us in the yard..._

The teacher stopped him.

"Y-yes!"

And he sat down again.

_What the hell do you want from me?  
Why can't you just ignore me as you do with all the other guys?!_

He sighed. It was frustrating to share a room with a guy like Levi, he had almost felt the urge to ask for a transfer, but since it was the first year he attended that school, he didn't want to give too much trouble to the school board.

"Ah..."

He let out a sigh louder, turned his gaze to the left, toward the window. It was at that moment that he realized that Levi was looking in his direction, he was staring at his back. By doing confused, he tried to convey a "what's up?!" with the eyes, but the motionless and expressionless gaze of the tyrant made ?him freeze, his breath caught in his throat.

"W-what-..."

Hoping that the lesson ended in a hurry, he turned back and tried to ignore him, yet...

_Yet, I can still feel him!_

He swallowed.

_I feel he's still looking at me!_

He narrowed his eyes, he tried to calm the breath.

_Come one...  
You can do it..._

Then, finally, the bell rang.

"NOW!"

As quickly as he could, he got up from his chair and straightened his uniform, ran to Jean's desk.

"He's still looking at me, right?!"

He snapped. Surprised, the friend raised his head and eyebrows, looked at him.

"What?"  
"L-Levi-... is he looking at me, now?!"

He threw a glance just further back, pretended to look around. Then he grinned.

"Oh yes, he's looking at you."  
"Damn!"

Armin snapped back, taut as a violin string, went back to his desk and grabbed all his objects, squinting hoping that-

"Ohi, Arlert."

... that Levi wouldn't call him.  
Dejected, he looked up.

"W-... What?"

His eyes met those of the tyrant, he trembled slightly.

"Come here, come closer."

He hated his weakness in facing him, his perpetually feel intimidated and inferior to him.

"W-what-... do you want?"

Levi continued to have his usual blank expression, almost plastic, even while curling a lock of brown hair with a finger.

"Come, I don't bite."

Armin reached him, stopped in front of him, squeezed his fists.

"Th-then? What-"

Suddenly, Levi grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him, grabbed him by the neck.

"You guys, look here!"

He shouted.

"Nnh-"

Then he kissed him. Armin clung to his arms, tried to break away from him. He felt everyone's eyes on him, as he heard someone laugh and comment. _Why?,_ he wondered while Levi continued to hold him by the head and push his tongue into his mouth, pulling his hair.

"Nngh-"

Violently, roughly.

"Ah-"

Then, Levi left him.

"Have you seen, guys?!"

Armin felt on the verge of throwing up.

"This is what my roommate try to do every night, while I'm sleeping!"

He was in shock.  
Wiping his mouth with his sleeve, now red as a red bell pepper and on the verge of a nervous breakdown, he fled the class banging again and again against the benches, covering his face.

"Armin!"

Jean cried with a loud voice, as he rose from the talbe chasing him.

"Wait, Armin!"

Inevitably, Eren even didn't manage to restrain himself.

"Levi!"

So he got up and walked quickly toward the door.

"You're a bastard, you know?! A BASTARD!"

And he left the class, reaching Jean and Armin.  
Forgetting about the saving time change immediately and about all his stuffs still on his desk.


	2. Chapter 2

Armin remained locked in his room for the rest of the day. He had closed the door, had slipped under the covers and hadn't even responded to the insistence of Jean and Eren, who continued to call him for almost two hours, without stopping.  
With every passing minute, however, they were realizing that they wouldn't get anything even insisting.

"Okay, Armin... we're leaving."

The poor boy had just need to be alone and not be bothered, so Jean stood up and gave Eren a couple of taps to the nape, urging him to return to the room.

"Let's leave him in peace, we can do nothing right now."  
"Ouch."

At that moment, they saw Levi right in front of their eyes.

"LEVI!"

Eren gripped his roomate's arm, he knew exactly what he would do if he hadn't restrained him.  
Levi cocked his head.

"Don't tell me that he's still locked in there."  
"Tch-... You'd better leave, you know?!" "Why?"

He looked like a porcelain doll, cold and stiff, as if his skin was artificial.

"Don't you have the slightest sense of humor? You and that fag?"

Jean snapped.

"YOU SON OF A-"

But Eren held him back once again.

"Jean, come on! Forget it!"

And he, panting, began to walk.

"You're lucky, you know?! Armin wouldn't approve violence among his friends-..."

He surpassed him.

"Otherwise, I would have already gotten my hands on you!"

But Levi seemed totally indifferent to his words and his aggressiveness.

"Hum. Okay."

In peace, he began to walk toward the door of his room and entered noisily, completely ignoring Armin's presence.

"Are you still whining? You're boring."

He took off his shoes, kicked them as far as possible.  
He walked slowly to the other's bed, put a hand on his head.

"Or maybe you fell asleep while you were crying like a little girl?"

He bent over him. Armin gave no sign of response, he continued to pretend to be asleep.

"I understand."

Just the thought of looking at him was too embarrassing to bear. He felt his hand going with force through his hair, then the tyrant stood up and walked away.

"Then, I'll make a little fun of your friends, if you really don't want to answer me." "NO!"

He cried.

"I'LL NEVER LET YOU DO IT!"

His voice came out of his mouth before his brain had given him the command... because nothing in the world would allow that person to disturb his best friends.

"Oh! So you're awake?"

Levi turned his neck just enough for him to look at him with one eye.

"That's interesting."

He turned and walked back toward the blonde.

"And how are you going to stop me, you fagot?"

Armin trembled.

"Take aim at me, if you just want to take it out on someone!"

Levi laughed.  
He bent over him again, closer to his face.

"You get on my nerves, Arlert."

Armin couldn't believe that, just a few hours before, he had felt for the first time his overbearing tongue push inside his mouth.

"Nnh-"

He instinctively covered his mouth, he began to sweat.

"Ouch ouch... you remembered of this morning, right?"

It was true, he was experiencing a strange phase in which he felt physical attraction also for boys, he had to admit it, but Levi...

"You liked it, perhaps?"

_I could never feel the slightest interest for someone like him_, he told himself.

"Want some more?"

The tyrant put a hand through his hair, pulled them.  
Armin closed his eyes, only hoped that everything would end quickly and that Levi could get tired.

"N-... never- ... There's no way-... I could like it-..."  
"Seriously? Yet..."

He felt him get even closer to him, until he had his nose right next to the ear lobe.

"You look so excited right now..."

He felt his breath. His mouth, his brown hair as light as feathers.

"But you know what? I think you wouldn't be even able to give me a blowjob."

Then, he felt him letting him go and get away from him, suddenly.

"I don't want to see you in this room from now on."  
"W-what?! B-... but-... this is my-"  
"I don't want to see your ugly face when I wake up."  
"B-but! All my stuff is here, how could I-"  
"Make something up, you're a genius right?"

Levi threw himself on his bed, he turned his back.

"And don't piss me off."

Stopping finally talking and falling asleep within a couple of minutes.

* * *

That was actually the last conversation that Levi and Armin had. The blond pledged as much as possible to get into their room long before the tyrant, and to spend as much time as possible in Jean and Eren's room. They never met, not even by mistake, Armin always managed to make sure that their eyes didn't cross, not even during lessons. Like this, a month passed without too many problems. The pattern was always the same, Armin woke up half an hour earlier than usual and prepared in great haste, he left the room to get to Jean and Eren and then go to class with them; during the evening, then, he quickly could collect his books and move into the room of his friends thanks to Oruo's "tipping", who reported every day when and for how Levi would have been "detained" with his girl friends into their room. Armin waited then eleven and a half to return to his room, and in doing so was able to carry out his plan to perfection.  
Until that day.

"Rocchan."

A pause.

"What-"

Oruo was upset.

"Levi? You called me _Rocchan_ or-... I heard wrong?"  
"You heard right."

He couldn't believe his ears. He looked around to make sure no one had heard them (and to make sure he wasn't dreaming), then put a hand on the brunette's face.

"You're sick, aren't you? You'r dying."

Levi slapped his hand.

"I need help, seriously."

And he gulped.

"Oh..."

It was the first time ever that the tyrant asked for help, and was perhaps the first time he saw him look so down. He had even called him by the nickname he had coined when they were children, years and years ago.

"W-what's up?"  
"Arlert."  
"Arlert-... what?"  
"I can't stand him."

He frowned.

"And-... What should I do?"

A brief stop, Levi lowered his eyes.

"Well, to tell the truth-..."

He seemed in trouble.

"Since I don't see him creeping in and out of our room as a worm- ..."

Thoughtful, concerned.

"I feel so bored that I could pass out."

Unusually demoralized.

"W-what-..."

_IMPOSSIBLE!,_ wanted to cry Oruo after hearing those words.

"Levi, you -..."

He scratched his head, put his hands in his face.

"YOU were same who told him to disappear! What, you've probably lost your favorite toy?!"

The tyrant continued to have that abnormal dark face, an expression he had never seen before on his face.

"Yeah, maybe."

He didn't even reacted to his provocations, he continued to look out the window.  
Was he seriously starting to miss his roomate?

"Levi, listen to me! I think you should ask him for-"

Just then, the deafening voice of Jean Kirschstein interrupted them and made them instinctively turn. He was one big and loud and rude boy as usual, and now he was flicking Armin's back grinning like an idiot.

"Let's go easy on him, Eren!"

While Eren followed them holding his belly, laughing.

"S-... stop Jean! This is-..."

Armin smiled. Sure he seemed to be embarrassed more than ever, yet he smiled and laughed like a child, while Jean put a hand through his hair and ruffled them a bit.

"See you after class, _minna_!"

And he continued to smile even as he walked to his desk, very little distant from that of Levi.

"Ah, those idiots!", he whispered opening a book. He seemed to be in a good mood, stay with his friends allowed him to not think about anything else.  
Oruo grinned.

"See, Levi?! The "fagot" lives much better without you!"

Then he laughed. Obviously, he knew perfectly how much Armin was mortified for the whole situation, but he was curious to see what kind of reaction would have have his friend.

"Yeah... Maybe..."

He was shocked.

"W-what?!"

He threw his hands on his desk, looked him straight in the face.

"This is all you can say?!"  
"Eh?"  
"Heck! Since his arriving, you have done nothing but blame him! He's passing through hell, and now you also have balls to say that you get bored without him?!"  
"Yeah."

He snorted.

"Look, the only thing I can tell you is to leave him alone, so he will be able to concentrate on his studies and not spend sleepless nights because of you."

He lifted.

"Find yourself a better hobby, Levi! That guy did nothing to you!"

He walked away, headed for the door. Intrigued by the fact that his senpai had raised his voice (strangely), Armin turned. He realized that Levi had noticed him so escaped again, _I must not let him see my face!,_ he said squinting his eyes and clenching his fists. Hoping that the bell rang at that moment, for the umpteenth time.

* * *

After two weeks, July had now arrived and the heat was already unbearable.

"Let's go to the library together, Armin!"

Jean was leaning over Armin's desk for about ten minutes, and was staring at him as he put pens and books in his briefcase.

"Oh... I have to first check my times- .. for the curfew."

The "curfew" was the time that Armin had in order not to be found in the room when Levi was around, and this could vary from day to day.

"Have you heard from Oruo-senpai when that bastard should return?"  
"N-not yet..."

Jean snorted.

"Anyway, Eren and I will remain until closing time, so please come!"

And Armin felt really lucky.

"Tha-... thank you."

Privileged in having two friends so trustworthy, on which he could count constantly, and who were helping him not to feel too much the weight of the new school and his tumultuous past, as well as the situation with Levi.

"I'll be there!"

He returned his smile.  
After a few minutes, silently, he was crossing the corridor leading to and third classes, to find Oruo. But not only.

"Ah!"

Being forced to spend most of the time mostly out of his room, Armin had even discovered that he had a crush on someone.

"ARLERT!"

**Reiner Braun**, the most popular volleyball player of the school, the class president. As well as the tall and strong Oruo's classmate, who at that very moment caught up with him and threw an arm around his neck.

"What are you doing here?! You missed me that much?!"

Armin felt his heart begin to race, and he painted his face of a bright red.

"O-oh-... I'm going to find-... Oruo-senpai-..."  
"Oh, Rocchan?"

He could feel his muscles on his shoulder, his strong smell of cologne right under his nose.

"It's in the classroom, I'll take you there!"

His massive tonnage, his broad chest.  
He could lose his head for him, but he kept wondering how it was possible.

"Rocchan, Arlert is here!"

Then, without imagining that it could happen, he saw Levi just sitting on Oruo's desk.

"Armin!"

Oruo joined him.

"Do you want to know the schedule for today, right?"

Yet, by the strange expression that he had, the tyrant seemed more surprised than him.  
He looked down.

"Well-..."

Oruo understood immediately.

"Oh, don't worry about him. Until he's in our territory, he can't do anything to you."

He put a hand on his head, smiled.

"Anyway, today he will be busy all day for the tests, so-"  
"YO!"

Levi stepped down from the desk.

"Now you're letting even these queers getting here?!"

And, as expected, he spat his own massive dose of poison on them. Reiner and Oruo simultaneously turned toward him, while Armin remained silent, with his head down.

"You're not yet in the third year, but we allow you to climb here as well."  
"I'm not yet in the year, but I'm not a fag."

Again, he wondered what had caused him to deserve such treatment, such harsh words.

"And now-"

Suddenly, Levi grabbed his arm and pulled him.

"I have to exchange a few words with this blonde!"

He just left him taking him, dragging him.  
Aware that he couldn't do anything to prevail on him.


	3. Chapter 3

"Le-"

With violence, Levi pushed Armin against the wall, in the middle of the hallway.

"You brood of idiot!"

Then grabbing him by the arms, lowering his voice.

"You're stalking me, perhaps?"  
"B-... bad-..."  
"Bad? Am I hurting you?"

Armin swallowed several times, tried not to look at him.

"W-... Why are you doing this-..."  
"What were you talking about, you and those two idiots?! You were talking about me, right?"

Why was he clutching his neck in that way?  
Why was he locking him against the wall?

"I-I just wanted to-... to know- ... when I could get my stuff-... to go to the library..."

Levi frowned.

"Eh? That bastard of my best friend is doing the spy, then?"

He looked away.

"Tch..."

He lowered his voice.  
Although he had exceeded the limits of acceptable, Armin had noticed something different in the eyes of the tyrant.

"That's why he made me all those questions. What an idiot!"

He didn't ever looked into his eyes for too long, it was as if he was afraid to confront him and make him look through the mask of coldness and stiffness he had.  
He held his breath.

"When-... can I take my things?"

But then, he was able to speak.

"It depends." "D-depends?"

He lifted his head, looked at him.

"Yeah. If I tell you exactly when you can come and go from our room without running any danger, what will you give me?"

He swallowed again. Was he probably kidding? Or was he challenging him?

"I-I don't know-..."

Levi just laughed.

"Tsk -... You wouldn't be able even to give me a blowjob, you kind of fagot."

And Armin, taken from an unusual, sudden spasm...

"E-..."

Gave him a slap.

"ENOUGH!"

Straight on the cheek, without hesitation, despite his heart was going to to burst and his breath was stuck in his throat. As expected, the tyrant reacted almost immediately.

"YOU-"

Hitting him with as much force as he had, just in his left eye, with the knuckles of his right hand.

"Dumbass!"

Armin dropped on the floor and began to moan, to pant. To bleed in pain.

"Idiot, idiot!"

While the tyrant turned away from him and went, with his hands in his pockets and his hair uncombed.

* * *

For the two days following the incident, Armin didn't show up for class. Since he didn't usually talk to anyone besides Jean and Eren, the two of them would let him stay in their room until his eye wouldn't have fully recovered (yes, the punch was really heavy), and had decided to lie about his state of health inventing a strong flu. The tyrant hadn't shown the slightest interest in the conditions of his roommate, _but no wonder_, thought Oruo as he reached the Class 2-A along with Reiner.

"Guys?"

And approached Jean's desk. At that precise moment, Levi turned toward them.  
He couldn't understand what they were saying, but from the lip of his best friend was able to understand that they would meet in their room, in the afternoon.

"Tch..."

_Neither of them deigned to greet me!,_ he thought dropping the head on one side, following with his eyes the two senpais as they left the classroom quickly.

_And that Reiner, then? _  
_Why is him so much interested in Arlert?_

He was becoming paranoid.  
At some point in his life, he had become incredibly aggressive. Selfish, in constant search for attention, eager to control the people around him, careless of their feelings. He had begun to hate and persecute anyone who proved to be fragile and defenseless, "different" from the crowd.  
Just like Armin Arlert.

"Anyway-"

Although, truth be told, it was the first time that he took so much aim at a person.

"I will make them a nice surprise."

The first time he felt the need to know everything that that boy was doing or thinking, a relentless curiosity.  
What was, in that Armin Arlert, which made him so angry? Perhaps it was his perfume, or his hair blonde? His gentle expression, his graceful movements?  
His absolute accuracy, the determination with which he faced everything?

_I hate you_, Levi thought as he approached Kirschtein Jean and Eren Jaeger's room (after waiting patiently for the lessons to end), and then quickly hide behind the column opposite.  
Why was him hiding behind a column? **Just him**, who was constantly trying to look better in front of anyone? He almost felt like crying.  
Anyway, he saw Oruo and Reiner get to the room and knock; after a few seconds the door opened and Eren appeared in front of them with a smile.  
"Thank you for coming," he heard him say, and then he exposed a little more and finally been able to see more.  
"Guys!", he heard.  
"Thank you...", he heard then.

"Here he is!"

He'd know that voice among a thousand, and when he saw Armin emerge from the shoulders of his friend, his eyes widened. The boy was pale as a corpse, he moved slowly and wore a white bandage over his left eye, the one he had just hit. "Armin!", said Reiner aloud, then jumped on him and grabbed his hips, then stroking his hair gently.

"What the fuck-...!"

_What does it mean?!  
What kind of hug is that?!  
And why Arlert blushed in that way?!_

Yeah, Armin's had become of a deep pink, shiny and smooth; Levi saw him squeeze a strip of Reiner's shirt, and in that moment he realized that something was wrong. Or at least...

"Hey, IDIOTS!"

That Armin felt "something" for that gigantic senpai.

"What the fuck are you doing?!"

Without even understanding why, he exposed himself and hurried toward them, annoyed and irritated.

"Move over, you mountain!"

He yanked Reiner, made him turn away from Armin and grabbed the arm of this.

"You! Stop bluffing and let me see your eye!"

He also attempted to deprive him of the bandage the eye, but Jean and Eren intervened promptly, just as if they were his bodyguards.

"Don't touch it, stupid! It hurts, don't you see?!"

Eren made him flinch, but the tyrant seemed totally uninterested in them.

"I just want to see how is my roommate, is this that strange?!"

Jean took Armin by the hand, stood in front of him. All the while, the blond was left completely paralyzed by the sight of Levi in front of him, but he saw him move in a strange way, he thought that even his expression told him something that he had never noticed.

"Wait a minute, guys-..."

So, he decided to give it a try. Everyone looked at him in disbelief, didn't understand, but he told them to leave him alone with Levi for a few minutes.

"Please..."

Contrary to all expectations.

* * *

"How long are you going to skip lessons?"

Levi's voice was lower than usual, his movements was slow and rhythmic.

"W-well-..."

Armin had sat down on Eren's bed, he kept his fists clenched on his knees and his head down, feet together. He had no desire to be seen as weak and submissive just by him, but his presence was still scared him.

"As long as I will not have fully recovered the sight in my eye, I guess..."

Levi started.

"What?!"

Until that moment, he was standing in front of him, with his hands in his pockets and his head slightly tilted.

"Show me!"

But now, had moved toward him and he bent over him slightly, grabbing his chin. Armin made no move to stop him, he just gently pulled the bandage from his left eye and Levi froze.  
_Is it my fault?,_ he thought without being able to stop looking at the skin, swollen and reddened, stained with blood.

"Does-..."

The lids attached, the eye completely immobile.

"Does it hurts?"

He was almost sick.

"I-... I feel a bit better today."

Frustration? Rejection?  
Guilt?  
Yet, somehow...

"Thanks-... for coming to see me, Levi."

Something had changed.  
The image of that pale face, of the scratched and bloody skin, the desolate and tired expression...

"Don't talk nonsense.''

Levi knew that he would never stopped thinking about it.

"I'm your roommate, after all."

He felt it.  
A sense of guilt borning and growing inside his body, making its way up to his throat.  
He also felt it as he left the room and closed the door quietly, slowly.  
Still in the grip of that strange, sickening feeling of emptiness inside the stomach.

* * *

The gentle breeze, the warm sun, the rustling of leaves, the warm climate of the end of July.

"Ah..."

Armin was really in a good mood, and it was passed a long time since he had felt that way. About a couple of weeks before, he and his roommate had yet another confrontation which had, however, ended in the worst way just for him (he had almost lost an eye). However, during convalescence and absence from lessons, he had the opportunity to reflect on what had happened between him and the tyrant in those last 4 months of living together, and I can't go on like this was the only conclusion to which he had come. "Please, I want to change my room", he said to the school President the day before, arming of courage and determination, and although it wasn't possible to resort to a change of room, Mr. Takeda had decided to accept his proposal as long as the boy had taken care of the garden of the school until the end of the year. Despite it would be a tough job and he would even miss a few hours of lessons, Armin had accepted without hesitation.  
As for Levi, apparently, he seemedn't to have even noticed his absence.

"ARLERT!"

At least until that moment.

"YOU BASTARD!"  
"E-eh?!"

Armin immediately recognized his hoarse and nasal voice, he shuddered.  
In a split second, Levi jumped on him and grabbed him by the collar of his white shirt, both fell in the cluster of leaves that Armin had collected in the last two hours.

"Did you think I wouldn't have noticed?!"  
"W-what-... Levi-...!"  
"You wanted to get away right in front of my eyes, right?!"

Their bodies sank in heavy foliage, Levi stood above him.

"You can't leave the room!"

He held him close to the vest, blocking his shoulders.

"L-Levi-... i-it hurts-..."  
"I don't care!"

He bent over him, lowered his voice slightly.

"You have no idea how I'm getting bored, in these last days!"  
"Eh?!"

Boredom? Him?

"But-... I can't continue to share the room with you, you know it!"  
"Why is that?!"  
"Y-... you gave me a punch, did you forget it already?!"

In the confusion, Armin realized that Levi was totally out of control.

"That was-... because you- ..."

He had never seen him so scared and upset, even when they had "struggled" in that corridor.

"You made me angry, that day!"  
"W-what?! Y-you called me fag at least a thousand times-... and said that I wouldn't have even been able to give you a-... W-well, a blowjo-"  
"Shut up!"

Levi grabbed him by the neck.

"You don't understand! You-..."

However, he wasn't squeezing him.  
On the contrary...

"You can't-..."

It was almost like he wanted to caress him.  
Panting, with a flushed face, he leaned his forehead against Armin's chest.

"You can't leave our room-..."

Sinking, hiding. _What does this mean?,_ wondered Armin ticking the right eye and looking right in the blue sky above them, under the heavy body of the tyrant.

"Please, Arlert!"

What?

"Don't go!"

Yeah, Levi was praying.  
Just him...

"Don't-... don't leave me-..."

He was praying him not to leave him.


	4. Chapter 4

"Arlert."

Armin started.

"L-Levi?!"

He fel his roomate reach him from behind and drag his chair heavily on the floor, getting right next to him.

"What are you doing?"

He raised his eyes slightly, he felt his arm slip behind his back and leaning on his shoulder.

"Well-... a rough outline for our study plan."  
"I see."

He was surprised, but he was also accustomed to the tyrant's strange behavior, so he didn't move. Although he had decided to stay in the room with him (Levi had practically begged him), they hadn't talked much. They were limited to say goodbye when they entered and exited the room, but nothing serious.

"You will share it with me, right?"

A black sweater, a pair of beige pants (the last gift from his parents) and a satisfied smile on his face (typical of those who knew he had done a great job).

"I-if you need it-... why not?!"

Even though he was generally weak and insecure, Armin could turn into a war machine if he was asked to create patterns or to organize his studies.

"You must really like this stuff."

And Levi began to feel unusually fascinated by this kind of "bipolarity", the hostility with which he studied and worked and, at the same time, the fragility with which he had submitted to him for almost four months.

"I think this is the only thing that I am able to do, actually."

Almost excited him, watching him as he wrote.

"Tch..."

He saw him scratching his head nervously and rolling his eyes, as if to flee as far as possible from his gaze.

"Don't you realize you are a genius? I could never figure it out, with all this stuff."

He wondered why the hell he was there with him, why the hell they were so close, why the hell he still had his arm on his shoulder.

"I envy you for this."

Yet, as soon as Armin smiled and turned toward him, he froze.

"O-oh-... Nobody had ever told me this-... Thanks-..."

He tilted his head, raised an eyebrow.  
For the first time, he really saw the deep blue of her eyes.

"Then kiss me."

His lips so red and fleshy, so apparently soft.

"W-what?!"

He took him by the neck, craned his neck.

"Kiss me, I said."

Armin dropped the pen and covered his mouth with both hands.

"W-why should I?!"  
"Just do it."

Levi grabbed his chin immobilizing him, Armin closed his eyes. Obviously, he wanted to react and rebel, but he feared that person and his unpredictable reactions more than anyone else.

"A-are you- ... kidding me?!"

He wanted to avoid with all his strength to remain trapped in his eyes, hard and cold, to give in to his demands.

"Just do it, I said."

But he couldn't, indeed.  
He opened his mouth slowly, while continuing to squint as much as possible, and began to sweat. He was not an expert in physical contacts, let alone feel able to manage just one so close with a him.

"Wait-"

Levi put two fingers on his lips.

"You've never kissed anyone, didn't you?"

Armin stiffened.  
Dind't Levi remember that he was himself the first to kiss him?

"O-of course I did it-..."  
"When? With whom?"

A shiver. He saw him more and more concerned, almost amused, he felt overwhelmed by his presence.

"W-well, to tell the true-..."

Tiny, insignificant. _Why is he doing all this?!,_ he wondered taking a lock of hair behind his ear and lowering his head.

"It was you, the first to-... kiss me..."

He couldn't tell if he hated him seriously or was still playing with him like a dog with his favorite bone.

"Oh, right."

He winced.

"Anyway, stick out your tongue."

He held his breath.

"A-ah-..."

Of course, lately he had come a lot of odd "cravings", but with Levi...

_Stop, Armin!_

He approached the other's mouth, narrowed his eyes.

_Idiot, what are you doing!_

He touched his lips just barely, holding only resting for a few seconds.

_Do you want to get scoff from him again?!_

Then opening his eyes slowly, waiting a nod response.

"What's this shit? That was not a kiss."

Armin winced again, now completely disoriented.

"W-well-... I'm not that kind of guy, okay?! I'm still waiting for the right person, so-... I don't have so many experiences!"

He felt even more ridiculous.  
Muttering some sentimentality just with _him_...

"Tch-..."

Still, the acrid smell of the tyrant advanced in his nostrils and stunned him, confused him.

"Then you might try again."

He totally lost the desire to rebel.

"A-ah..."

Their lips touched again, but it was something totally different. The tongues met and intertwined, Levi dug his fingers through his hair and pulled him more.

"Nnh-..."

Then he placed a hand on his thigh, rising slowly to his side.  
Armin grabbed his hand, stopped him.

"W-wait!"

He was surprised, confused, while the tyrant seemed to be totally unaware of how his actions were investing and shaking the heart of that poor guy.

"I don't-..."

Who tried to compose himself and behave as if nothing had happened, swallowing repeatedly, struggling to breathe.

"I-I can't! This is-..."

Clenching his fists on his knees, looking down. _Why are you so scared?,_ thought Levi letting him go and sitting down again, calmly.

"Right, you have a lot of work to do."

_You shouldn't be afraid of me, Arlert._

"Y-yeah-..."

_I should be afraid._

"Pass me the plan, as soon as you're finished."

_Afraid to be here with you, in this room._

"Y-yes-..."

_Afraid of your mouth, of your smell, of your eyes._

"I'm counting on."

_Afraid of you.  
Everything about you._

* * *

"WHAT?!"

Jean's voice echoed throughout the classroom.

"YOU TWO KISSED AGAIN?!"  
"J-Jean!"

Armin immediately covered his mouth with both hands, looking around.

"N-not so loud, please!"

Sure, he was still confused nor know what to think...

"But-... he ridiculed you for months, you have even beaten, and now-"

But Jean and Eren had been literally shocked. It was already strange that Levi had almost begged their friend not to leave the room, but that he had even kissed him, for no apparent reason, it was completely inexplicable.

"W-well-... Also I'm trying to understand something, actually!"

Armin looked tired. Despite his problems were somehow resolved, the enormous effort he was doing to prepare for the tests was tiring him, he didn't even have time to make breakfast in the morning.

"Anyway, you should tell him about Reiner."

Eren started talking again.

"Otherwise, he might feel deceived."

Armin looked at him.

"Deceived?"

Jean smiled.

"Come on, haven't you yet figured it out?! He has a crush on you, Armin."

And he motioned for him to look back, just to the counter of Levi.  
Who was staring just at him.

"W-well-..."

Armin stiffened.

"The fact that he's looking at me-... doesn't mean that he has a crush on me!"  
"He's eating you alive!"

He blushed.

"It's obvious that he only tried to suppress his attraction for all this time and he's now bursting."

He froze, lowered his head.

"What-..."

Suddenly, he wondered...

"What would have happened yesterday, if I hadn't stopped him?!"

* * *

"Let's go to bed, Armin."

A shiver.

"W-what?!"

Armin spun around, after feeling jerked his arm.

"L-Levi..."  
"We have to wake up early tomorrow, come with me."

He frowned.  
He was (as usual) with Jean and Eren, and they were deciding the locations where they would sit the next day on the bus, for their trip to the mountains. The two boys stared at the tyrant, it seemed so strange to see him seek the attention of their friend so shamelessly, following him everywhere.

"Well- ... to tell the truth, I would like to stay with them a little more..."  
"Please, come with me."

Armin's eyes widened.  
He couldn't believe that he was praying for such a thing, he even began to think he was kind of sick of some incurable disease and was on his deathbed.

"W-... would you really like to go right now? With me?!"  
"Yes."

He looked into his eyes.  
He knew that Oruo and Reiner would come after a few minutes, but...

"Armin!"

Jean stopped him, stopped him.

"Reiner is going to-" "Don't worry guys, tomorrow morning we will resume where we left off."

But he was shocked. He knew how to Armin liked Reiner, how he tried in every way to spend some time with him, and yet...

"As you wish, then."

Despite he would have had the opportunity, Armin had preferred to follow the tyrant.

"See you tomorrow!"

He had chosen the darkness to the light.

"Good night, guys!"

The confusion to certainty.

* * *

The air inside the room was strangely calm.  
It was probably the very first time that the two were in their room without arguing or bickering, and this led a strange sense of uneasiness into Armin's belly.

"Then-..."

Who, however, decided to make an effort and to strike up a conversation with his roomate.

"Have you decided with whom you will be with, from tomorrow? For our class-trip in the mountains, I mean."

While he undid the covers and prepared to sleep, with his usual cream-colored pajamas.

"With you."

Levi did the same (although he was in shorts and tank top), almost as if to want to imitate or caricaturing him. Armin turned toward him.

"Me?"  
"Yes, you."  
"W-well, actually-... Jean and Eren would like to-..."  
"I want to be with you."

He stopped.

"W-what?"

Levi jumped back out of bed and walked over to him, in a great hurry.

"I mean-..."

He grabbed his hands, he made him sit on the bed.

"I can't control myself when I'm with you, okay?"

He began to beat nervously and strangely his lashes, his hands were sweating like never before.

"W-what are you-... saying now, Levi-..."  
"I don't know, don't ask me anything, I couldn't answer."

Tyrant, eh?

"It's like this from the beginning, okay?"

Suddenly, Levi looked more like a lamb face to face with the wolf more ruthless.

"When-... even when I gave you that punch-... I didn't know what I was doing, so-..."

Desperate, confused. Should I help him? Or tell him something to calm him down?!, wondered Armin merely following his movements, with frantic eyes and holding onto his hands. Levi was panting, fidgeting.

"T-the first time I-... I kissed you and-... also that evening-... and the other day in the garden-..."

Armin grabbed him by the shoulders and stopped him.

"I-I don't understand what you're saying, Levi!"

They looked at each other. What was going on? How could they be in a similar situation?

"Ah-..."

Levi just stepped toward him, still staring.

"Arlert, I-..."

_I'm going crazy, don't you see?_

"I think I need to sleep, now-..."  
"Huh?!"

_I need to kiss you again, don't you see?_

And then he let go on his hands and moved quickly, like a scared rabbit. _I could really mess you up right now_, he continued in his mind running away in a hurry.

"L-Levi, wait!"

Armin got out of bed, went after him.

"Wait, please!"

He grabbed his arm, spun him around.

"What do you want? I daid I have to sleep."

He kissed him. He hadn't the faintest idea why he was doing it, he knew how stupid it was. He brought his hands to the other's face and caressed them, clung into him; Levi grabbed him firmly by his back and his neck, sliding his fingers under his shirt.

"A-ah-"

But Armin stopped him, again.

"E-even I have to sleep, now!"

Terrified, completely terrified of what they might do if they continued.

"G-goodnight!"

He yelled running towards the bed and slipping under the sheets, covering up to the front. Levi sighed, scratched his head then slowly lying down, sighing again.

"Good night, Arlert."

Wondering how the hell he would be able to fall asleep, still with the taste that blond guy on his lips.


	5. Chapter 5

In the middle of the night, Levi opened his eyes.

"What-... the-..."

Although he had stripped, the heat inside the room had become unbearable, and he had noticed it even while sleeping.

"What's this Hell?!"

Suddenly, he got up from the bed.  
The next day, he had to go on a journey of nearly three hours with all his classmates (towards the mountains), and he would have to get up at 6.

"Damn-... I had to open the window-..."

Of course, he couldn't sleep in those conditions.  
But, unfortunately...

"Arlert..."

His bed was too far from the window, which was indeed located right next to his roommates' bed. Silently, the tyrant in white tank top and blacks boxer crept barefoot toward him, reaching the window. He put his hands on the glass and on the handle, careful not to make any noise. One click, and the window opened.

"Ah-..."

A slight breeze came almost immediately, refreshing the whole room. Wiping a bead of sweat from his nose, he looked down and noticed that his roommate was sweating just like him.

"Tch..."

The blond was wearing his usual cream-colored long-sleeved pajamas, he instinctively grabbed his shirt.

"How can you sleep like this?!"

He quicly lifted it and a shoulder was showed.

"You will die suffocated by the heat, you idiot!"

Then his thin arms, belly, thighs, calves practically non-existent.  
He moved very slowly, discovering his smooth and white stomach, then his pronounced ribs. Armin was lean and rangy, his hips were tight and his legs were long, longer than normal.

"I'm just doing you a favor."

So why?  
Why was him trying to earn as much time as possible?  
The moonlight penetrated through the window, illuminating the precise contours of the perfect body of the other. He continued to raise his shirt somehow managing to pull it out, but at that moment...

"Shit-..."

He realized.

"Fuck-fuck-fuck!"

At the sight of the other's white and bright skin, his sleeping face and relaxed, his tiny nipples...

"Arlert!"

He got excited, sexually excited, while undressing and touching just slightly his thighs, his hips, his hands.  
What should he do? With what courage he could talk to him the next day?  
Suddenly, he threw the pajama at the foot of the bed and collapsed on the floor, leaned his head on the mattress.

"Arlert-..."

He put a hand inside his own boxer.

"Bastard!"

And he began to touch himself.  
The pace was fast from the start, he tried to hold his breath and began to sweat.

"Nnh-"

His voice, as well as his whole body, seemed to have its own and independent will, and he realized he had lost control once again. Clinging to the sheet, he lifted slightly and approached Armin, looked at his face and his neck, his hair.

"Arlert-... You-..."

He wanted to kiss him, to touch him just like he had done earlier, before giving him good night, and he felt so much shame that he wanted to sink into the darkest abyss.

"Ar-... min-..."

He wanted him. For the first time, he wanted to touch only him, his body, to feel his skin, to feel his heat.

"Wa-... wake up, please-..."

He stepped forward again and touched his jaw with his lips. Armin complained, but gave no sign of waking up, so Levi came up again and even managed to crawl next to his body, trying to keep the pelvis outside of the bed.

"Look-... look what you're making me do-..."

He whispered in his ear, sinking the fingers of his free hand through his blond and thin hair. He kissed his neck and his jaw slightly, decreased the pace of his hand.

"Wake up, please-..."

Actually, he never wanted that Armin woke up, but the delicate scent of his skin, his slow and heavy breathing, his body half undressed...

"Ah-..."

Everything, everything about that guy who he had always been considered a "stupid fagot", was driving him crazy.  
_I've never seen anything more exciting_, he said himself. He repeated it even while arching his back and held his breath, burying his nose and mouth between the pillow and the neck of the other.

"I'm going to-..."

A shiver violently struck him, he stiffened.

"Ah-"

And he groaned loudly and clearly, then vented his pleasure on the floor, right next to the the other's slippers.  
Armin didn't wake up even at that time, he collapsed.

"S-... shit-..."

He had hit the bottom, he said himself.  
He had exceeded all limits, that night.

"You-... Bastard-..."

_What did you do to me!_

* * *

"Rocchan!"

07:14 am, male dormitory of the third class.

"Rocchan, wake up!"

Totally dazed and half asleep, Oruo just opened his eyes and looked straight in front of him.

"What-... the heck-...

Gray t-shirt, uncombed hair.

"Wake up, I beg you! I need to talk to you!"

While his best friend was shaking him by the shoulders, speaking just stuck to his face. He paused, frowned.

"Levi-... what-... what do you want-..."  
"I masturbated!"

He sat up, bringing his hands through his hair.

"The hell-..."

He snapped.

"Oh, God! Thank you for sharing with me about your sex life!"  
"Arlert!"  
"Arlert?!"  
"Yes, Arlert!"

He looked at him, opened his eyes even more.

"Did he caught you while-..."  
"No!"

Levi paused, lowered his voice, looked around to make sure that the other roommate was still sleeping.

"I watched him and-..."

He paused, swallowed several times.

"I-I-... I woke up this night, okay? I was hot, really hot! I decided to open the window, but as you know this is right next to that faggot's bed!"

He stood up and began to mimic with hands and body what he had done that night.

"I get up, I walk, I open the window-... I take a deep breath, I feel good-..."

He took a short break.

"Then I see Arlert and I see that he's sweating as hell too, so-..."

He stopped again. He hoped with all his being that Oruo would have figured it out, but the guy looked more confused than before.

"And?"

He sighed.

"I masturbated."

He dropped his arms to his sides.

"I decided to undress him-... so I took off his pants, shirt and-..."

Dangling, he sat down on the bed and put his hands through his hair.

"I-..."

He covered his face.

"I think I-..."

Muttered.

"I think I lost my mind."

* * *

7:39 am, school parking lot.

"Armin, this way!"

As expected, Jean and Eren were the first to get on the bus and grab the most wanted seats, and of course Armin had followed them like a shadow.  
With a strange expression on his face, confused and indecipherable.

"Ah-... good seats, Jean-..."

He sat behind his best friends, right next to the window, and he was already gearing up the book and the mp3 player to avoid the noise of his classmates. Once getting well, Jean knelt on his seat and turned toward him, giving a sharp slap on the shoulder.

"Hey, you!"  
"Eh?!"  
"Did that bastard did something to you?!"

He gasped, squeezed the armrest of the seat.

"W-what are you talking about?"  
"I'm talking about your roommate, you idiot! Did he touch your body or abused in any way?"  
"N-no! Of course not!"

He looked for Levi in the crowd of boys, but he could not find him.

"W-why?"

Jean's eyes widened.

"Don't tell me-..."  
"What?! I-I don't know what you're talk-"

Suddenly, a heavy and loud thud shook them both and they jumped out of their places.

"Ohi!"

Jean fell on his seat and Armin jumped in surprise then to see Levi just sling in place next to his.

"Is this free?!"

Sweaty, panting.

"Y-yes-..."

Armin nodded and continued to stare at him as he settled.

"Thanks..."

The tyrant had arrived in a hurry, probably for fear of losing a seat.

"I-... lost a bit too much time in the bathroom, hehe."

He scratched his head, touched again and again his black sweater.

"Were you-... waiting for someone?"  
"N-no-... it's- free-..."

It was hard to watch his roommate in the face, after what he had done that night. A few minutes before, his best friend Oruo advised him to end it all and confess to the roommate, perhaps taking advantage of that very trip on the mountains, and the fact that they would have shared the same tent.  
But it wouldn't have been so easy for him. First of all, in spite of his ways of making rude and rebellious, Levi was extremely shy. How could never explain to him that he felt attracted to him and that, worse still, he had masturbated watching him?

"Don't you feel good?"

Suddenly, Armin craned his neck toward him and looked at him with his big blue eyes.

"W-what?"  
"You said you was in the bathroom-... Did you feel bad?"

Levi looked at his lips, his wispy blond hair.

"Yes. No, I mean-... I must have eaten something too-... heavy, last night-..."  
"And-... are you okay now?"

_A paradox,_ he thought...

"Yeah. I'm much better now."

_I really want to kiss him, right now._

* * *

"You're seriously interested in him, you bastard?"

With emerald green sweatshirt and blacks jeans, Levi the tyrant turned to his left a little bit surprised by the overbearing voice of Jean.

"What?"

Who, now, was coming to him and putting his arms folded, grinning, with his usual black sweater and tight pants.

"I'm talking about Armin Arlert, as well as my my best friend."

They had gone to collect firewood to make the bonfire, along with all the other boys in his group.

"And?"  
"You're really interested in him or are you just kidding, as you always did?"

Levi wondered why he had chosen that moment to talk to him for the first time in four months.

"I want him."

He replied.  
It was now evening, crickets and mosquitoes all over, but all in all it was a nice place camp.

"So? What do you want to do, now?"

Both boys tied for good pieces of wood between them and started walking, this time to the camp.

"Is there something specific I should be doing, in your opinion?"

The trip was short, but they were intentionally and unknowingly walking more slowly than usual, just to save time.

"You should first try to get him to trust you, since you've always treated him like shit."  
"Why are you advising me?"  
"Because I want him to be happy."

Levi looked at him.

"Tch-... You want to fuck him too?"  
"What?!"

Jean laughed hard.

"Easy on words, bro! We are talking about Armin, not one of those friends that you carry in your room!"  
"I don't carry anyone in my room."

It was strange to see them converse in the middle of the forest and surrounded by nothing but trees and bushes, but the affinity between them was surprisingly strong.

"However, it's not me you should worry about."  
"Why?"  
"Someone else has his eyes on him, and unfortunately for you, Armin returns him."

Levi snapped.

"Who is?"

He couldn't understand why, but he felt something grow more and more right inside of his stomach, a mixture of irritation and embarrassment.

"Tell me, Kirschstein."

Jean chuckled.

"I'll tell you just because you have such a funny expression, right now."

He paused, cocked his head.

"Reiner Braun."

He shrugged his shoulders and a hand, gesturing animatedly.

"Armin has a crush on him from the beginning of the school. Or, at least-... this was what I thought before you."  
"Me?"  
"Yeah! Nothing happened between them-... since Armin keeps talking about you and only you."  
"Arlert talks about me?"  
"Ad nauseum."

Levi was staring at him, but didn't stop to tighten the wood in the arms and maintain a slow pace.

"So he even said that I put my tongue in his mouth three times?"

Jean burst out laughing again.

"And you hope to win his heart with such a language?! Dude, listen to me carefully."

He put a hand on the other's shoulder, he came up.

"If you want to get serious about Armin Arlert-..."

He whispered.

"You need to arm yourself with gentleness and kindness."


	6. Chapter 6

"Armin!"

As expected, Armin had preferred to withdraw into the tent to read, rather than join the rest of the group around the campfire.

"Aren't you coming? The guys are telling a bunch of horror stories, you would literally pee in your pants!"

However, Eren seemed to have noticed his absence.

"O-oh-... looks funny, but- ..."

I went to him and, annoyed, he stuck his head inside the tent.

"Come on, come on!"

He grabbed the friend's arm and pulled him.

"Eren!"

And, in just a couple of minutes, Armin found himself sitting around the campfire with the rest of the guys.

"E-Eren! It's-... it's not the case, I don't-..."

Reluctantly.  
Overly large orange sweatshirt, jeans shorts and sneakers, reading glasses and ponytail on the head. Armin had almost never participated in group activities, he still couldn't feel at ease with the rest of the class.

"You decided to come at the end."

Suddenly, however, Levi's voice interrupted him in his ruminating thoughts, and he realized that he sat right next to him.

"W-what ?! N-no! Eren forced me!"  
"But it's more funny, now that we are you."

He was almost lying down, with a can of Cola in hand. Armin thought he had to be very tired, judging by his face.

"A-ah-... Thanks..."

He remained silent all the time, listening to all those terrifying stories, and the other seemed even amused. The group around the fire became increasingly skimpy, many left to go to sleep, and now remained only six.  
_Will it be like this every night?,_ thought Armin while dropping slowly backwards, lying on the ground.

"Ohi, Arlert."

Levi sat up, walked over to him slightly.

"Kiss me."

Armin winced.

"W-what-... Again with this _kissing thing_?!"  
"I'm serious."

They looked a each other.  
The sky was very clear and lit that night, it seemed to have been catapulted into another dimension.

"We-... we are not alone, now."

Now that he thought, when he was with Levi, he didn't even remember of Reiner and his seemingly unrequited crush.  
It was perhaps because of the other's innate ability to dominate everything and everyone, even his thoughts.

"Everyone's leaving and even your henchmen are flirting over there."  
"Flirting?"

Surprised, he raised his neck and saw Jean and Eren not far from them, while trying to stifle the voice, turned backs, as if they were glued twins.

"Oh..."

He smiled, then going back to the ground and starting to look at the stars.

"I'm happy for them, really."  
"I need it, Arlert. Kiss me."

But Levi was still there, and he seemed pretty insistent.

"Kiss me, now."  
"We-... we are not in the dormitory, Levi!"  
"Please."

Seriously, he hated when he began to _pray_.

"Damn!"

He couldn't say no.

"Okay, but-"

And that made him angry as ever.  
He rose slightly, approached him.

"Not more than three seconds! And don't pull out your ton-"

Bang.  
After all, he thought, _we're talking about Levi the tyrant._

"Le-"

And now he felt completely disarmed, facing the voracity with which the roommate was kissing him. Confused by the way he had grabbed his neck and held him stuck on the ground.

"Levi-"

Only a few brief stop, then Levi was beginning to bite and suck his lips almost as if to devour him.  
_Very bad_, said Armin.

"A-ah-..."

He felt good, really good.  
His hot tongue made him feel good, the force with which he pressed his lips against his made him feel equally good.  
But why, why just him?

"E-enough!"

He tried to look away, but the other seemed to need more and more, to the point of blocking his wrists against the ground and slid slowly over him.

"Again."

Armin heard him breathe faster and increase the pressure on his skin, he should have tell him to stop and maybe give him a good kick, and yet...

"L-Levi..."

Yet, he was really good.  
_This is completely consensual_, thought Levi pushing his tongue into his mouth again, he heard him complain and just try to stifle his voice, and he stopped.

"In the tent, Arlert."

_But me?_  
_Why am I doing this?_

"W-what?"

_He is just a boy._

"We go into our tent."

_He's just Armin Arlert, and I can't stand guys like him._

"But-... why should we go, it's-"  
"Please."

_Please?_  
_I am saying PLEASE to him?_

"Let's go, Arlert."

_Why..._  
_Why should I desire someone like him?_

* * *

"Arlert."

A sigh light on the face, a start.

"Wake up, Arlert."

A low, deep voice, a warm body.

"Nnh-... what-..."

Armin raised an arm, slowly opened his eyes.

"What the- ..."

Instinctively clung to the figure in front of him, closed his eyes again.

"We have to go, all the others are waiting for us."  
"E-eh?"

Suddenly, he recognized Levi's voice.

"Levi!"

He crawled back, covered with his sleeping bag.

"What-... what we did, what-..."  
"You fell asleep."

He held his breath.

"What?"

He looked at his own body, he knew he was still fully clothed. In a flash, he remembered what the night before Levi had said once inside the tent.

"I told you to lie down, but I didn't think youo had such a heavy sleep."

And so, the danger had escaped.  
Again.

"I-I'm sorry-..."  
"It doesn't matter now, we have to go."

However, Levi seemed neither angry nor annoyed. Indeed, he seemed strangely quiet, and in a blink of an eye he was ready to get out of the tent.  
_What would have happened if I hadn't fallen asleep?,_ wondered Armin arranging his things and crawling out of the sleeping bag.

"T-thanks for waking me up..."

Standing up, breathing deeply the mountain air.

"You're my roommate, aren't you?"

* * *

"Even today is over."

Eren was shaking his placemat flowers that his mother had given him, sighing with exhaustion.  
Not far from him, with a book in hand and a pen in his mouth, Armin had sat down near the bonfire still on. All alone, with that inscrutable expression on his face, a mixture of sadness and desolation.

"Hey!"

Eren put the mat inside the tent, crept toward him.

"You want to talk?"

He sat up.

"What-... what should I talk about?"

The friend's blue and huge eyes rose quickly, and now his attention was directed only to him.

"About-... this whole situation with the tyrant... About Reiner..."

A short stop.  
Armin smiled, almost artificially.

"I wouldn't know where to start."

It was the first time he opened his mouth about his private life, and he realized again of how lucky he was to have friends like he and Jean.

"I-... I don't understand what the hell he wants from me."  
"You mean to Levi?"  
"Huh."

Eren sighed.

"I've known him a couple of years, but I've never seen him behave in this way with anyone else before."

Armin looked at him.

"What- ... does this mean?"  
"I think he's interested in you, seriously."

Eren scratched his head.

"I mean-... he never punched anyone and-... he never asked his roommate to stay with him."

Silence.  
At this point, what would he wanted from weak and submissive person as Armin?  
And how to deal with a hostile person and complicated as Levi?

"I know you like Braun, but-..."

Eren smiled.

"Why don't you give him a chance?"

Armin blushed, suddenly.

"And what if he was just playing? After all-... he told me things like "without you I'm bored" or "now that you're here is more funny"..."  
"It's just his twisted way of loving."

He winced.

"Loving?!"

Yeah...  
Why, every time he was with Levi, he couldn't think of nothing but him?

"You two kissed a couple of times already, right?"  
"F-... four..."  
"Four?! And when-... I mean, the fourth time-..."  
"L-last night he-... asked to kiss him."

Eren seemed shocked.  
Of course he knew that the things were twisted, but...

"A-ah-... and how does he-... I mean, how does he kiss you?"  
"He is violent..."  
"Violent?"  
"He's-... Well- ... I don't even have time to breathe..."

Armin blushed, hid his face in his knees.

"And when he does that, I-... I can't dismiss him and-... He insists-..."

Eren also blushed.

"D-do you like this?!"

He was a very shy guy, albeit being dynamic and bright, so get in speeches like that put him in extreme embarrassment.

"I-I-..."

Armin swallowed.

"I like it! I like it so much-..."

Covered his face with both hands.  
He was finally admitting the truth, albeit with difficulty.

"So-... you like him?"

They looked at each other.  
In that short amount of time, even though they didn't say anything, they managed perfectly to feel their thoughts.

"Yo!"

Suddenly, a hoarse voice and powerful interrupted them.

"J-Jean?!"

Jean jumped on the back of the roommate and threw him on the ground, pretending to beat him and shake him.  
Armin couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"Can I do it too?"

Then, he felt almost dizzy from a shiver down his spine, when he heard Levi's voice right behind him.

"Can I throw you to the ground too, Arlert?"

Who put his hand on his head and forced him to turn around, to look at him.  
The usual emerald green sweatshirt, ripped jeans.  
Since when he had become so attractive?

"Y-you can!"

Levi laughed loudly, losing his balance and falling backwards.

"You're kidding, right? You were lucky to fall asleep, last night."

He sat up.

"I don't have the same control of your horse-faced friend Jean."

He walked over to his ear, took his chin with two fingers.

"I like you, Arlert."

Holding him.

"So, now I will get up and I go to sleep, because I don't know how much I can hold out."

Armin was silent.  
_It's the confirmation that I was waiting_, he said himself, unable to move and beginning to sweat.

"G-good night..."

Now what?  
What should he do?

"Good night."

* * *

Armin had continued to curl up on himself all night, squeezing a piece of the gray sleeping bag. _I'll never sleep again_, he thought looking around and noticing that, somehow, the morning light had already arrived. In his mind, the words that Levi had said the night before continued to echo and reverberate without stopping for a moment. His sudden confession, his body so attractive, his half smile.  
He was sleeping right next to him and was more unusual than ever, to think about everything that had happened between them in the last days.

"Enough!"

All of a sudden, he got up and put on his knees, gently opening the zipper of the tent and sneaking out. The light was still dim and chirping of the nocturnal birds were still audible, he put his boots and began to walk. Of course, if they had caught him wandering around in the woods he would be punished severely, but he felt the need to get away and be alone.  
After a few minutes, he found a sturdy fence that opened directly on the lake, the one that had been the subject of the lesson the day before, that he had admired with great enthusiasm from the first moment. He leaned on the fence, sighed. _Why should he stay away from me, if he likes me?,_ he said aloud scrutinizing the shadows of the fishes in the water, rubbing his nose. _It should be the other way, right?,_ then continued eyeing the trees on the other side the shore.

"You think it's that easy?"

Suddenly, goosebumps.

"You think it's that easy, to stay away from you?"

He spun around, he saw Levi walking towards him.

"Levi?! How-..."

How did he know that he was there?

"A-are you kidding me?! W-why are you here?"

He leaned against the fence completely, almost fainted.

"Did you think I wouldn't have noticed? We sleep in the same tent, I heard you complaining so I decided to follow you."

Gasped.  
He looked around, wondering if anyone had seen them, then began to scratch his head vigorously.

"There-... there was no need, I wanted to be alone for a bit so-"  
"I like you, Arlert."

Meanwhile, Levi had reached him and stopped right in front of him.

"I like you. And I never liked anyone so much."


End file.
